Running Against Time
by AncientArchive
Summary: A hidden power out in the worlds fights to change the past, present and future. As always, Kurosaki Ichigo finds himself smack dab in the center of all troubles. This time, he finds himself alone and must tread lightly or risk losing everything he fought to protect. Or perhaps an unlikely ally would present himself and a relationship might just be formed. IchiUra.
1. Chapter 1

A Bleach Fanfic by AncientArchive

Hi! Hahahaha! Finally, I could force out a Bleach fanfiction from my ass. Recently, I've been on an intense Bleach marathon, all for the sake of Urahara Kisuke: the so-called 'humble' shopkeeper. As you can guess, that guy is my most favourite character in the whole of Bleach, chemical or fictional. Maybe I just have a thing for trolling guys. Either way, like I mentioned in my bio, I have a strange infatuation for impossible ukes and if there is one impossible uke in the world, it'd be Urahara-san. So I present to you the rare IchiUra fanfic, written solely for the sake of myself (because I'm greedy like that). **And if any of you is kind enough, PM me to help beta this story as it's 100% unbetaed.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. Unless you consider the chemical type ones, then maybe, yeah. Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite, that sunglasses wearing guy.

Chapter 1: Turn Back The Pendulum

The whole world tilted a 180 as nausea caused his stomach to churn and his throat to burn from acids. He groaned pitifully and laid a consoling hand on his temple in an attempt to straighten the world to its rightful place. The pads of his fingertips blinded him with the surge of flaming white pain, but it had momentarily stopped the world from spinning before his eyes. He could make out a large bump on his right temple, just above his ear. Definitely a concussion then.

It took quite a while for the throbbing pain to subside to a more bearable level and while he patiently waited, he took a breather in an effort to slow his racing heartbeat. He closed his eyes and surveyed the world through his other senses, knowing that this would do the trick. The grass tickled the nape of his neck and the back of his palms, the soothing wind brushed gently on his cheeks, the scent of earth surrounded it and everything was quiet other than the occasional soft chip notes from sparrows.

He did not know where he was. Although a good guess would be very far from civilisation, which was odd because the last thing he remembered was that he was at home, within civilisation. Karakura Town, while fairly quiet, did still have the occasional shrieks of children's laughter and irritated car honks.

Another thing he noticed was the enormous amount of Reiatsu in the air. "Soul Society?" He asked himself, "That can't be..."

With great care, he squinted open his right eye and felt elation when his stomach remained calm and his vision was balanced. His head pounded every once in a while. That was easily ignored and pushed to the back of his head. The sky above was tranquil, the clouds moving leisurely across the sky as though it had all the time in the world. The sun was blocked by a tree, for that he was thankful for, and cast a long shadow over him.

"Oi. Carrot-head, you alright?" a raspy voice sounded from above him, but out of his sight. Ichigo jolted in alarm, wincing when he whacked his temple harshly on the ground. His hand reached behind to grasp the familiar cold hilt of Zangetsu and in a split second, was up and pointing the dangerously sharp blade at the unknown person.

A young boy tumbled to the ground in fright, his two small hands before him with his eyes tight shut. "Please! Don't hurt me!" So the raspy voice came from him. Ichigo did not notice it at first but the voice had the innocent tone that was constant in all children. He probably just has a dry throat from the lack of water.

Ichigo lowered his zanpaktou and sheathed it back in its rightful place. He kneeled down to the boy's height and laid a comforting hand on the boney shoulder. "Sorry, I'm not trying to hurt you. You just caught me by surprise, that's all," he explained and when a large raven black eye peeked out at him, he smiled.

The boy sniffed and wiped his hand across his wet cheek. "I'm sorry too. When I saw your sword I thought you were injured or something. It's not common for Shinigami from the Seireitei to find their way here."

So this is Soul Society, Ichigo realised. The cogs and wheels in his mind rotated slowly as his thought processes that new information. "..." He opened his mouth as a shudder swept across his body. "WAIT! DOES THAT MEAN I DIED!" His scream startled the boy and he fell back onto the grassy ground with eyes wide with apprehension. The word 'died' echoed around the two, accompanied by terrified shrieks of fleeing birds.

Ichigo took a deep breath to pacify himself. "No... That can't be right. I can't possibly be dead. I would remember dying. The last thing I remember was that I was in my room doing homework. How can I die from that?" He paused. "Or maybe Dad tried to catch me by surprise and accidentally killed me. Or a sudden attack seriously caught me unguarded."

Looking at the orange-haired teen who paced across him worriedly, relentlessly muttering to himself with a solemn look on his frowning face and a finger on his chin, the boy chuckled softly to himself. Evidently, it was not soft enough as Ichigo's ears caught the melodious laughter and whipped his head around to see the smiling boy. "What? What are you laughing about?"

"You, obviously," the boy replied, his once trembling lips now stretched widely from mirth and amusement. "Of course you're dead, silly. How can you be a Shinigami if you're alive?"

Ichigo quirk an eyebrow but then remembered that the people of Rukongai did not know about the going-about within the fifty metre high white walls. "Yeah," he let out a breath of laughter at the end of that, deciding to amuse the boy with his answer. "I have forgotten that yeah."

"You're so funny, Shinigami-san. I'm Shuuhei and this is the 64th East Rukongai District, Sabitsura," the newly named Kurosuke informed. "You have a nasty bump on your head. Maybe you're suffering from... from... Amnes... Amne-something!"

Ichigo hummed in agreement. "Amnesia," he corrected and carefully nodded his head. "I agree with you, Shuuhei-san. I don't remember how I got the nasty bump but there's something positively missing from my memory, " like how the hell did he get here, "I'm Kurosaki Ichigo, it's nice to meet you, Shuuhei-san."

The boy grinned wider and there was just something about him that struck Ichigo strange. "Wait a minute. Shuuhei? As in Hisagi Shuuhei?"

The obsidian eyes blinked in surprise as the small mouth hung on its hinges. "You know my name?" The boy gasped.

Ichigo ignored Shuuhei's question in favour of voicing out his own. "Wait, wait, wait! Why are you so short? Why are you so tiny? The last time I remembered you, you were around my height. Where's your tattoo? Or maybe you're a bit too young for tattoos now. What the hell happened?!"

"The last time you saw me? I've never met you before, Ichigo-san!" Shuuhei raised his voice a volume louder so that he could be heard over Ichigo's own boisterous one. He could not make heads or tail of whatever his new found friend was talking about. "I was just playing hide and seek with my friends when I spot your hair from a distance."

"But... But... But..." Ichigo spluttered, his arms now flailing in the air to physically express his confusion. "But... WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!"

"This is Hisashi, Takeshi and Masahi," Shuuhei introduced, pointing to his three friends. Hisashi was a chubby boy that was the shortest of the four. To Ichigo, he looked to be suffering from a cold, judging from his constant sniffing. The boy blushed shyly and waved when Ichigo nodded at him. Takeshi was the skinniest of the group and the tallest too. He waved happily. Masahi, if anything, reminded Ichigo of Byakuya, especially when the boy scoffed when he was introduced. "And this, my friends, is Kurosaki Ichigo. I found him in the nearby jungle!"

"Uh. Hello," Ichigo gave his best attempt at a friendly smile.

"What's a Shinigami doing in a place like this," Masahi asked rudely, his arms cross over his chest.

Hisashi jumped slightly at Masahi's discourteous manner. "Don't be so mean, Ma-chan. He didn't do anything to you," he chided. Masahi loudly snorted before stomping away from the tiny house they were holed up in. Noticing Ichigo's perplexed face, he smiled comfortingly and explained," Ma-chan doesn't like Shinigami because they took his older brother away from him."

"And when Hi-chan says take, he meant that Misugi left for the Shinigami Academy without telling Ma-chan. Ma-chan has always been very bitter about everything related to the Shinigami ever since then," Takeshi said, at the same time poking at the kindling that burned a bright orange.

Shuuhei nodded his head. "You shouldn't be too let down by him though. He'll come around sooner or later. Especially if he wants to play kick the can with us later."

"Yeah yeah! For now, let's go fishing in the river!" Takeshi cheered, jumping up on his tiny feet excitedly, fists pumping the air.

"Fishing?" Ichigo questioned. "I thought you guys usually don't get hungry."

"We don't," Hisashi replied as he stood up as well. "But Shuu-chan does, so it's like tradition to eat three meals per day just for the sake of it."

Shuuhei blushed to the colour of tomatoes and anxiously got up. "I... I'll put out the fire. You guys go ahead!" His voice trembled and it was clear that the young boy was embarrassed. With that, the boy raced out of the hut to get the bucket of rainwater and lug it in.

Ichigo could feel a tug on his shihakshou and looked down to see Takeshi pulling on the long sleeves. The little doe eyed boy pointed to the direction of the river and exclaimed, "Let's go! The sooner we get there, the better, before others come and get all the big ones! Shuu-chan will come later once he finds Ma-chan!"

Hisashi was already running as fast as he could on his chubby legs out of the house, eyes squinted with glee at the rush of cooling wind. He looked back at them and shouted, "Hurry, Ta-chan, Ichigo-san!"

For a boy that looked like a very malnourished ten year old, Takeshi sure had a lot of hidden strength in him. With a hard jerk, Takeshi had managed to drag Ichigo who was at least a good 1 metre and 40 kilograms taller and heavier than him out the door and into the entrance of the jungle. Glancing around, Ichigo could not spot the familiar spiky hair of Shuuhei. He really must have gone out in search of the slightly haughty Masahi.

The walk to the river took a good ten minutes with Takeshi leading the way and Hisashi out of sight. They walked mostly in silence, occasionally broken by the broken tune of Takeshi's whistle. The small hand still lay on Ichigo's sleeve, jostling it only occasionally when the young boy took a sudden turn from the straight path they trod on.

When the thick jungle became thinner bit by bit and when the sound of rushing waters met his eardrums, he knew that they had arrived at their destination. Sure enough, the few trees that blocked their path cleared to afford a full scene of serenity and peace. Hasashi stood on an outcropping rock, waving his arms frantically at them. At the upstream of the river, there was a miniature waterfall that stood, at most, three metres in height. The water was clear with vibrant fishes swimming in it.

"Ichigo-san, Ta-chan!" Hisashi said in a disapproving tone with his hands on his rounded hips when they arrived. "You sure took your own sweet time, didn't you."

Takeshi laughed cheerfully, a guilty hand on his neck. "Sorry, Hi-chan. But we're here now! What are we waiting for? Let's go!" He whooped in joyfulness and released his tight fingers on the silky black material, before leaping into the river with a loud splash.

Hisashi guffawed loudly and joined him too, both not bothering to remove their yukata before going in. The silence was broken by jubilant laughter and splashes of water as the two played in the cool waters for awhile. Ichigo smiled and sat down on the outcrop, the soles of his feet lightly treading the water.

"Neh!" The call made him look up at the two smaller boys who stared eagerly back at him. "Ichigo-san is not joining us in the waters?"

He did not want to let them down by declining but he had more important things to do just then. The tranquility of this place was good enough to meditate on and he undoubtedly needed his answers now. "Sorry, the both of you, but I'd rather stay here," he replied, feeling guilt-ridden at the gloomy expressions that took over their tiny faces. "But call me when you need my help with catching fish."

Apparently, that was good enough for them as they quickly went back to splashing water at each other with immense glee.

Ichigo sighed and pulled Zangetsu out from his back and put it across his lap, both hands on the cool metal of the blade. He slid his eyes shut, the glow from the glaring sun being taken over by darkness. Concentrating on his breathing patterns, he took a deep breath in, held on for two seconds and released, continuing the cycle until he could feel his waraji hitting the glass with a soft thud.

A deep breath in and he opened his eyes. Despite having been in his inner world for countless of times, it still took him by surprise on seeing the horizontal sky.

"Ichigo," a deep voice came from behind him and he slowly turned, relief bombarding within his heart at the sight of his zanpaktou. With all the odd things that had happened, he was beyond happy at the one constant thing that had not changed.

Turning around, he was greeted with the sight of Zangestu balancing on his usual pole. "Zangestu-ossan! Thank God you're alright!" He walked closer to the man.

"Of course I am alright," Zangetsu replied, "If you are alright, I would be the same."

Ichigo paused in his footsteps and scratched his hair, feeling slightly dumb. "Ah, well, after the whole Shuuhei thing, I was certainly doubting that," His voice took on a more serious note as he asked, "But seriously, ossan, what's going on?"

Zangetsu stayed silent as he observed the teen who stared back with confusion. Seconds passed until a tick started to form on the Shinigami's head as his fuse started to reach the end. Knowing that he had perhaps remained silent for far too long, Zangetsu released a long, tired sigh. "You possess the clues and you do know what's going on. Running away from your conclusion wouldn't make things any easier than it actually is."

Ichigo frowned and crossed his arms, eyes shining with bewilderment and disbelief. "Are you seriously telling me that we went back through time?"

"Yes, I am," Zangetsu retorted bluntly. "How? I don't know the answer to that but we are most definitely back in time."

"Hmmm, well that explains things. But wait a minute. If my soul is here, back in time, then where's my human body? We're still alive, aren't we?"

"Yes, you are."

_"God. This is boring," Rukia complained as she flipped through a fashion magazine, boredom printed plainly on her face. "There's nothing to do here."_

_Ichigo rolled his eyes at her, even if she couldn't see it. He scribbled the answer to a maths question furiously down on his worn text book and answered, "How about studying? Exams are just around the corner, you know."_

_"Exams," Rukia repeated mockingly. "That's the last of the things I care about here. Why can't we go out?"_

_"Because, you know, exams," Ichigo answered monotonously, prepared to start ignoring her bemoaning altogether. She had been saying the same thing for the past half an hour without stopping. And while he did agree with her that there has been a lack of hollow activity around Karakura Town, that was something that he was not grumbling about. His life had been hectic for the past few months, a little bit of peace would cause no harm._

_Thankfully for him, she remained silent after that and instead groaned out loudly as she flopped backwards on the bed. And for a moment, he was actually fooled to believe that today was going to be peaceful for once. That was until he could feel pain pulsating deep in his chest._

_He released a soft gasp and dropped his pencil on the floor, the free hand now clutching his chest._

_Rukia snapped up at him when she heard the sound and was immediately by his side, not wasting a second on foolish shock. Her small hands were cool on his suddenly heated skin and while it gave a moment of relief from the intensifying pain, it still did not help much. He squeezed his eyes shut and toppled from his chair and onto the ground. Rukia's hand never left his arm as she followed him down._

_"Ichigo!" She shouted but all he could hear was a faint muffle over the loud thrumming of blood rushing in his ears. "Ichigo! Are you alright? What's happening?"_

_The question remained unanswered because Ichigo had taken that time to fall face forward to a fetus position. He could vaguely make out someone groaning in agonising pain and took far too long to figure that it was coming from him. He did not know what was happening nor could he be bothered at the point of time as the pain worsened till he shivered uncontrollably._

_Rukia frowned in worry when she had no comprehensive reply and instantly whipped out the phone to call Orihime. If there was anyone that can help Ichigo, it would be the gentle, orange-haired girl. She waited impatiently for the girl to pick up, at the same time, wiping away the sweat that beaded the boy's forehead. "Come on," she muttered when the ringing continued on for eternity._

_Ichigo's scream grew louder in volume and Rukia was torn between relief that no one was home or horror because they were alone. It would terrify Yuzu and Karin to see their older brother in pain but at least Isshin could help his son, at least to knock him out so that he could not feel the pain. "Hold on, Ichigo," she said encouragingly, massaging the tensing shoulder muscles as it contracted and relaxed repeatedly. "Faster, Orihime!"_

_Finally, the dial stopped as the other side picked up the phone. Not bothering to wait for Orihime say anything, Rukia quickly blurted out, "Orihime! Come here to Ichigo's house! Something's wrong with him!"_

_"Ah!" The soft voice sounded surprised and confused but being the nice girl she was, she did not question her and replied firmly, "Okay. I'll be there as fast as I can." She hung up after that and Rukia knew in her mind that she would not take long. That girl's speed can sometimes be beyond superhuman capacities._

_Well, with one person down, Rukia started pressing the numbers to Urahara's Shop into her phone. The man might be a complete idiot at times, but it was still undeniable that the man had saved their lives again and again without fail. Her heart drummed with anxiety and despair when the muscles beneath her fingers fell lax and the screamings stopped. Ichigo had fainted from the excruciating pain. While she waited, she single-handedly manoeuvred the unmoving body onto his back and placed a pillow under his head. The face that was previously contorted in unbearable pain was not smoothen out._

_"Hello, Kuchiki-san, how may I come to help?" The jovial voice answered the phone. "Is there something wrong or do you simply want to order something?"_

_"Urahara-san! You got to come! There's something wrong with Ichigo!"_

_"Oh my. I'll be there in just the second."_

_There was a sound of plastic hitting plastic at the other hand and the sound of frantic footsteps that got fainter. Urahara must have not hung up the phone properly in his panic. Rukia hung up her phone and slid it back into her pocket._

_"Oh, Ichigo," she said under her breath, smoothing out the drenched orange locks. "So much for a peaceful day, huh."_

_All of a sudden, a loud pop blasted in her ears and she stumbled back in shock as she tried to get away from the origin of the sound as fast as she could. Considering all the loud noises that have been coming from Ichigo's room as of late, it was still amazing to her that the neighbours had not yet called for the police. The sound was not unlike a freight train's horn._

_She whipped her head to Ichigo and only to realise that there was two of them, the soul one wrapped in his usual black shihakshou and the physical body. They had separated without the help of a soul badge! What was going on! Scrambling onto her feet, she tried to get closer to the two only to be blinded by a flashing white light that cocooned Ichigo's soul body. "What in the world!" She cried out as her hands shot before her eyes to block out the glaring beams._

_And then, in a blink of an eye, the light faded, along with Ichigo's soul body. The place where Ichigo tumbled out from his physical body lain empty. For a second, she thought that he had gone back into his physical body but the lack of wind on her finger underneath his nose crushed that thought completely. If he wasn't in his physical body, where in the world could he be? "Ichigo!" She shouted, foolishly wishing that he would reply to sate her worry. She had expected silence but it definitely did not feel any better seeing the soulless body of her best friend on the ground, limp, cold and very dead._

_The window slammed open, announcing Urahara's dramatic entry. The upbeat spirit of the shopkeeper was gone, only to be replaced by the hard lines and the sharp glint in his gray eyes. "What happened?" He asked seriously. Even during speaking, his eyes were scanning the scene, the puzzle in his mind more or less pieced out._

_"It's... It's Ichigo!" She informed. She had a good mind to break out in wails and tears but the Shinigami in her told her that breaking down would help no one. She hardened her heart, despite the fact that it howled for her friend, and gave a good and detailed report on what exactly happened._

_Urahara hummed as he digested the information. "You should tell Inoue-san to meet us in my shop. We're bringing him there," he told Rukia, who took out her phone without delay to dial her friend. At the same time, Urahara turned back out the window and shouted, "Tessai-san! I need your help moving Kurosaki-san's body!"_

So that's the end of the first chapter. Review it or PM me to tell me how you liked it, or how you like it to be. And remember, if you want to help beta this story, just send me a quick PM yeah?


	2. Chapter 2

A Bleach Fanfiction by AncientArchive

Hey! So I was supposed to post this up yesterday but then I got lazy. I have a million (and perhaps nine hundred and ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety eight less) excuses why this came one day later than it rightfully should but main thing is: I was lazy. I'm not really that sorry because let's be real, how many authors out there say 'I'm so sorry this is late!' and actually meant it. Half the time, they're just like 'meh'. _**But truly, I'm sorry**_. My other excuse was that I actually finished this a few days ago but then noticed a seriously _major_ flaw. Because in my previous draft, I wrote that _Rangiku_ was the one who found him and upon serious reflection on the comforts of my toilet seat, I realised how much of an idiot I was because she wasn't even bloody there yet. So if you find some reference to Rangiku that pops up unexpectedly like the plants from Mario in the green sewage pipe-like thingies, tell me so that I can change it. So, super long Author's Note. Deal with it. B:D _**No, I'm sorry.**_

Another thing is that I have always been a very _luo suo_ and lengthy sort of person so this story might go _seriously_ slow.

**Author's Note: I do not own Bleach in any sort of way other than the chemical variety.**

Chapter 2: Hollow Both In Body and Memory

"Ma-chan!" Shuuhei called out for his friend. Hearing no response, he slouched with a tired sigh. "Where in the world could he have gotten to... He knows we're having our dinner now."

Shuuhei had been going around the jungle for the past hour, looking high and low for Masahi. He checked their hiding den, a cave hidden by trees and bushes, Masahi's cooling off place and even to the borders of the 65th district. He dared not to venture further than that, knowing that the 66th district was full of raging psychopaths and merciless gangs. Masahi was a smart boy too, he should know not to go that far, no matter how livid he felt.

That was what he had thought at the beginning but now, he was not too sure. Usually, every time Masahi has one of his temper-throwing tantrums, it took them around half an hour to find him, at most, usually in his cooling off spot that resided on a rock beside a secluded pond. Now, his friend was nowhere to be seen. He was sure that Ta-chan and Hi-chan was beyond concern for them. The sun was almost setting, dyeing the blue sky a vivid orange and red that extended to the horizon. The two of them must have already caught and eaten dinner without them.

"Maybe I should go back and ask Ichigo-san for help," he mumbled to himself, looking dejectedly at his bare feet. "Maybe Masahi already went back and I'm still here looking for him. Either way, I can't find him all by myself..."

And with that, he stumbled onto his tired feet and went in the direction of the river where the group was having their meal. The jungle was awfully serene, perhaps more than normal. At times, especially at night, the four boys would not even have the slightest wink of sleep as the nocturnal creatures within the jungle started prowling around in search of food, emitting calls and ravenous cries that scared them tremendously. In daylight, the sound of birds chirping could always be heard but no matter how much he strained his ears, he could only catch the sound of his feet shuffling through the grass and dead leaves.

"Hmm, Masahi that bastard. He must really try to keep calm. He can't just go around, stampeding everywhere just because he's angry," he complained to himself. "Just because he has a reason to be angry doesn't mean he has to be angry."

All of a sudden, an ear-splitting shriek pierced the air and shattering his ear drums. Shuuhei flinched in surprise and had a good mind to run away to safety when he realised that the voice, though ridiculously high in pitch, was strangely familiar. A second later, right after the scream, a deafening roar blasted in the landscape, shaking trees and terrorizing animals.

"HELP ME!"

Shuuhei broke out in a cold sweat, his thin limbs shaking in unadulterated fear. His heart thumped within the confines of his ribcage so hard, it burned. His mind blanked out as all he could hear was the horrifying screams and roars played on repeat in his mind. "Ma... Ma... Masahi!" He repeated to himself under his breath, his pupils dilating and his fingers clutching the thin fabric of his yukata. He did not know what to do. That roar... He knew it was no normal animal which made that sound. Taking an audible gulp, he grimaced at the thought of his close friend threatened by a hollow.

Just thinking about that quickly made his heart firm up with a decision, and also gag at the same time. He grimaced at the foolish decision he was about to make, gathering his very much needed courage. Shuuhei was not an idiot. It was absolutely imprudent to think that he'd be able to go against a hollow and do some damage. Heck, he wasn't even sure he'd come out alive. In the end though, he had always been the loyal fellow, so the decision was not surprising. All he could do now is to pray for the best and hope that the kind Shinigami he had found earlier would bring along some good karma for him.

**-This is a line break because I can't figure how to force the damn thing out.-**

It was a good day for Shuuhei, regardless of the lack of food and inescapable oncoming death.

Meanwhile, the strident howl was piercing enough to be heard from the river, shattering the peace of the place and sending flocks of birds to the sky along with it. Two boys froze in place, both arms elbows deep in the water and fingers locked in its open position to catch unsuspecting fishes. Their faces resembled a deer caught in the headlights, just slightly more animated and very much paler. Ichigo was instantly snapped away from his meditation with a skip of his heart, his new found memories firmly in his mind.

"What was that?" Hisashi asked, trembling as he withdrew his outstretched arms defensively closer to his body.

"That sound... That's a hollow isn't it?" Takeshi replied, grabbing the other boy's elbow so hard that Ichigo was surprised the bone did not give way. Slowly and cautiously, the both of them edged back to land, as far away as they could from the origin of the voice and closer to the epitome of security: the Shinigami.

"Hey, you two," the boys peered up at him through drenched locks of hair, "Where's Shuuhei and that other friend of yours?"

The panicked glint in their eyes intensified. They grew so pale that they positively shone in stark contrast to the brown rocks. Their lips wobbled as tears threatened to spill over the eyelids. "Oh shit! Misahi and Shuuhei are still out there! Shinigami-Ichigo-san, please do something!" They begged, clutching the ends of his garment pitifully with doleful eyes.

Ichigo sighed. He never could resist that look in children, spirit, human or Hollow, even though he was sure they were using it as an advantage. He bent down till he was eye level with them and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "You two stay here. I'll go and check it out. I promise that I'll bring the both of them absolutely unharmed, okay?"

He did not wait for them to reply, instead using shunpo to zoom past the trees, leaving the boys in a gush of wind. "Neh, Ta-chan," Hisashi muttered, eyes and mouth still wide open from awe. Takeshi let out an inquiring hum, his face a replica of his friend. "Being a Shinigami must be really cool."

"That's true," Takeshi concurred. "But we can't, right? Shuu-chan gets hungry though, so he can be one."

"Yeah. Maybe if we're still around then, do you think he'd come back to race with us on his back using that speed?"

"Yeah!"

**-Line Break-**

The noise had stopped a while ago but he was sure he was heading in the right direction. Moreover, in a place like the Rukongai where the reiatsu was mostly pure, the slightly dark reiatsu of the hollow stuck out like an obsidian drop of ink on stark white paper. It was strong, much more powerful than the small dot of reiatsu that he was sure belonged to Shuuhei. Knowing that the boy was in grave danger, he gathered more of his reiatsu at the bottom of his feet, speeding up past the many trees.

If Ichigo had sensed the hollow, the hollow could sense him too, as when he neared the scene, the hollow let out an ear-shattering roar. At his close proximity, he could literally feel his ears ringing from silence as it deafened him. Taken aback, Ichigo screeched to a halt and gracefully landed on a tree branch near the opening of the field that was caused by the mindless stampede of the hollow.

The hollow resembled an elephant, perhaps one that had gone through severe physical deformities. Nevertheless, the hollow's mammoth size and its tentacle-like trunk did make it akin to the large animal. From there, the similarities stopped. The trunk was white and hard, an extension of its ovular unpigmented mask. It had six legs, the first pair long and skinny like a spider's, while the last four were large and stumpy. The tail waved around agitatedly, the spikes reflecting the orange light from the setting sun. The hollow had no ears, the boneless flesh replaced by enormous, gaping holes. And worst of it was the two limp bodies hanging from the trunk wrapped around their midsection.

His instincts won over rationality for a moment and he moved to rush towards them, Zangetsu unsheathed from his cloth but a warning wail from the hollow halted him in his footsteps. Grimacing, he knew it was far too late for him to hide. The elephant-like hollow had sensed him from over a mile away.

"Goddamn it," he cursed with the element of surprise totally gone. The boys were injured alright, from what he could see, though not terribly. That sight brought him a small amount of relief but he also knew that the Hollow could plop them into its massive mouth at any instant.

"I've no choice," he speedily leapt out from the safe canopy of leaves and towards the hollow. With a quick yet powerful slash, the flesh of the white trunk split into two, and the hollow roared with pain, its legs rampaging on the already beaten up ground. He did not waste a second and shunpo-ed to the falling bodies. They landed in the safety of his outstretched hands with a soft 'whump'. "Gotcha."

In the peripheral view of his eyes, he could see an oncoming blur of white in the sea of green grass and orange sky. Thank God for his quick reflexes as he rolled out of the way just in time for a giant leg to smash on where he stood mere seconds before. There was absolutely no time to rest as another colossal leg took the previous' place. He frowned as he flexibly dodged every upcoming attack with practiced ease. However, there was no way for him to attack back when his arms were occupied with bony limbs and bleeding heads.

His mind was made up there and then. The plan was overly simple: Put them somewhere safe and deal with the hollow. Whilst evading the swinging trunk, that mysteriously grew back even longer and thicker than before, and the stomping feet, he scanned the area for a place that was out of harm's way. Since the hollow was so huge, he was sure that nowhere close was secure but to go too far would mean losing sight of it. The only choice he had was to put them close by and to protect that spot with his life.

Not wasting a moment, he swung his sword warningly and when the hollow reared back cautiously, he raced to a nearby tree and gently placed the boys on the ground. Another howl was a sign to him that the hollow was approaching and he instantly swung around and shouted, "Getsuga Tensho!", the large blast of reiatsu neatly slicing off the piercing raised forelegs. "No way am I letting you get pass me!"

He let out a roar and charged forward. The hollow was in obvious agony from the loss of its limb but as he had witnessed before, the stump began gushing white liquid that took up in the shape of the butchered leg and hardened up. Ichigo scowled, finding in his heart that that was very unfair. The loss and growth of the leg took less than a minute, so that was not a way to disarm the hollow. His last choice would be to get to the mask and stab it.

Two very sharp legs flashed his way and he used the wide blade of Zangetsu to block it. The force of the legs and the impact sent him hurtling backwards. It was only by pure chance that he missed crashing into two already damaged and very fragile bodies.

With two feet planted on the grassy ground, he used one hand to push him up so that he slid the last few metres on his feet than rolling like a ball. Doing that gave him perfect leverage to jump forth, slicing at the looming trunk that had somehow morphed from a blunt tentacle to a razor-sharp spear. The appendage clattered to the ground and he took that opportunity to bend and twist around the attacking legs until he was right below its head.

While the hollow was strong, it was certainly not bright as it started twisting its head to uncomfortable angles in search for the orange-haired prey. Ichigo smirked before he used the thick legs as a stepping stone to soar onto the thick body. Before he could do anything, he suddenly realised the unique ability of this particular hollow. As he was landing, the viscous white liquid from just now unexpectedly started shooting out from the tough hide of the hollow and while it spurted through the air, it quickly shaped itself into spears and hardened.

Letting out a startled cry, he could not block all of them fast enough. The pointed spears mercilessly rained down on him, only his face and his chest unscathed due to the safety of Zangetsu's blade. Blood sprayed in the air in a perfect arch as he fell onto the ground hard enough for the air in his lungs to escape. He gasped for air, and mostly in pain at the numerous injuries he sustained from that one mere attack. The hollow was not smart, that was true, but it functioned perfectly from pure instincts, like any other hollow.

He had squeezed shut his eyes from the pain when he remembered that that was the worst thing anyone could do in a fight. By the time he opened his eyes, it was far too late. The two spider-like forearms were careening towards him, moving at sonic speed and aimed for his head and his chest. He glanced to his right, instinctively knowing where Zangetsu was. It was useless, unfortunately, as his trusty Zanpaktou was too far for him to reach, no matter how much he stretched out. His pupils dilated from a tinge of fear and helplessness as he could only gape at approaching death.

"Oraaa!" A battle cry sounded almost melodic in his panic-hazed mind. The next thing he knew, there was a whirlwind of green and pink that he knew was familiar but try as he might, could not place it. Even in the fast moving currents of neon colours, he could spot specks of crimson red. He reached out his hand without thinking but strangely enough, could only feel sharp bursts of air, like the currents created by a soaring jetplane. Distantly, he could hear, for the last time, an agonising scream before the gale stopped and the mammoth-sized hollow was nowhere in sight.

"Are you okay?" He sat up quickly, coming face to face with a curious gaze and he finally knew why the voice was so familiar. Standing right before him with shihakshou lose and wheatgrass green hair was Kuna Mashiro, the woman he remembered correctly to be the Visored that loved calling him berry-tan.

"What?!" He asked, startling the smaller sized woman who leapt back in a graceful cartwheel and landed in a defensive position. Noticing that he had been a tad louder than necessary, he blushed and thanked her instead, despite having a good mind to pinch her cheeks to test if she was real.

The woman, sensing his embarrassment smiled cheekily and walked up so that she towered over him. Despite her playful demeanour, though, she still showed him her outstretched hand that he gratefully accepted.

When he had retrieved Zangetsu back, he spared a glance at the woman who was now attending to the younger boys. On the sleeve of her Shihakshou, she wore the band that represented her as the position of a vice-captain of the 9th Division. There lied the reason on why he hated this new place. There were a million things he was not aware of, like how the green-haired hyper woman used to be a vice-captain. Or maybe, this is the Kuna-san he knew and that Zangetsu-ossan was wrong. As he contemplated that, he could feel the starting of a migraine pulsating in his temple.

"Neh, carrot-boy, what's your name?" Kuna asked as she multi-tasked between healing Shuuhei and Misahi. "You're obviously a Shinigami but I've never seen you before. Your sword is a bit huge to miss!"

Ichigo scratched his head, trying to figure a way to explain himself to her. As far as he knew, he was the first human-Shinigami Soul Society ever knew about and words have been never really his sort of thing. "Uh... Kurosaki Ichigo. And it's not sealed, it's _unsealed_," he corrected. "I have a lot of Reiryoku and controlling never got along well for me so I don't know how to seal it back. But it's pretty big, I have to agree."

Mashiro turned to him, her eyes widened to express her incredulity. "Unsealed?" She repeated and then continued in her sing-song voice. "Wow! You must have a lot of Reiryoku then. I was about to ask you to help me but someone with your Reiryoku levels must be seriously horrible for Kido, _Berry-tan_."

"Uh..." He sputtered, not entirely denying it but not agreeing to it either. To be honest, he hardly talked to Mashiro when he was training with the Visoreds other then the occasional "More rice, Berry-tan" or "Berry-tan, I'm going to kick your ass, you know", so handling a conversation was hardly Level One for him.

Thankfully, the Soul King had to be in a good mood as right at that moment, a soft moan came from an awakening Shuuhei. Kuna's attention averted back to him as she began coddling him like any women worth their salt usually does. He breathed a sigh of relief and moved closer so that he was in Shuuhei's line of sight.

"You okay?" He asked.

Shuuhei's eyes lit up with gratefulness and awe. Ichigo shuffled awkwardly, definitely not sure if the boy's admiration was worth it. He was doing pretty horribly before Kuna-san had arrived dramatically to provide a helping hand. Showing a half-hearted smile, he wondered what was wrong. The hollow was hardly tougher than the Arrancars he had once gone against. He did not fair well with some of them, and neither did he fair well for the hollow. He raised a clenched fist and wordlessly questioned himself if he had grown weaker from this trip back into time.

"Ichigo-san," the boy said, weak still from the wound on his forehead that was on the mend. Ichigo turn away his gaze from his hand and to the boy who struggled to get up despite Mashiro's resisting hand. "You saved our lives."

Hearing that, he scoffed and pointed a thumb to the beaming woman. "Don't thank me. Thank her. She's the one who got rid of the hollow."

It seemed as if the boy had only noticed the woman's presence then. He jerked back from her smooth, nimble fingers, stunned and immediately blushed so hard, he rivalled a ripe tomato. "T-Thank y-you," he stuttered. She did not mind it and merely smiled back sweetly with a simple 'You welcome'.

"Is Misahi alright? He was injured when I got here." He gazed worriedly at his unconscious friend. The boy's hair was matted with blood but he could not see a single scratch on him. Other from the fact that his clothes had a few new holes from their encounter, his friend looked perfectly fine, healthier than before in fact.

"Yep. I healed him with Kido. He should wake up just fine," Mashiro replied with a comforting smile. Her timing was spectacular as another faint mumble meant that Misahi was waking up as well.

"What happened?" Purple eyes opened tiredly to the world, still misty from the comfort of sleep and the bliss of confusion.

Shuuhei jumped, figuratively, to answer his questions enthusiastically. "You can't remember?" He shot an incredulous look at his stunned friend. "You got attacked by a hollow when you went stomping off like a child with a temper tantrum. Seriously, Mi-chan, control your temper once in awhile can you? If it was not for these kind Shinigami, we'd honestly be dead!"

Suddenly, the bushes beside them started shuffling. Everyone except Mashiro jerked back. For a second, they were terrified that another hollow was coming their way when a second woman with glasses and two neatly tied braids appeared from the green bushes. Ichigo stared at her, agape, running through his memory banks on where he had seen her before.

Mashiro smiled widely and jumped to her feet, clapping childishly. "Lisa-chan! You came!"

Yadomaru Lisa, that ero-woman that tried to show him Josei mangas. Of course, how could he have forgotten her? That woman was a terror, both in battle and in a conversation. The only difference was that she had two braids than her usual single braid that he was used to. Looking at the approaching woman, he found it unsettling to see her in her shihakshou that was a tad too short and with the vice-captain sash around her sleeve as compared to the constant green-themed school uniform.

"What's going on?" She asked, serious as ever. "Kuna-fukutaichou, please stop running away from me or else I'm going to tell Muguruma-taichou on you."

"Lisa-chan, you don't have to be so mean! Besides, I found a hollow, yeah! And another Shinigami. His name is Berry-tan!"

Lisa sighed, used to her friend's antics and asked, "Berry-tan is obviously not your name." It was a short statement but the slight tilt of her perfectly arched eyebrow told him she was expecting a response.

"Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Ichigo," she repeated, looking down at the ground, deep in thought. "I understand. Berry-tan suits you."

"I know," he sighed, seemingly defeated.

Misahi, true to his dislike of Shinigamis, could only pick out one word. Uncaring for his heavy and tired body, he shot up and looked around like a rabbit checking out for predators. "Shinigami!" He exclaimed, when his eyes caught sight of the orange-haired guy from before and two new females. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving you, obviously," Lisa answered, sharp and straight to the point, her eyes shining like a Cheshire cat from amusement at the snarling boy. "You're Misugi's younger brother, aren't you? You don't look much like him, more like that Kuchiki boy."

Ichigo was so tempted to skip around, pointing a finger at Misahi while shouting, "I thought the same!" but squashed the temptation down to nothing. He'd rather not look insane, thank you very much. Other than Mashiro and him, no one else understood Lisa's reference, not that the snooty boy thought much of it.

"Yeah, yeah! I know him from the Academy too! He used to yap on about how great you are!"

At that, Masahi looked less constipated at the thought that his older brother still cared for him. "Seriously," he asked, coldly, although everyone could see that he was touched. It struck Ichigo how young the boy actually looked.

"Yep!" Mashiro nodded her head reassuringly. "Kito Masahi, younger brother of Kito Misugi, proud winner of your daily 'Who can eat more fish within ten minutes' Challenge, up until the day he left."

The boy sniffled and looked down on them snobbishly. "Yeah, and the proud winner up till now. Tell him that!"

"Sure!" Mashiro said, completely unfazed by Misahi's arrogant personality. Then again, Ichigo was sure the woman had the patience that even Unohana-taichou could not compete with.

While the other two conversed, Shuuhei peered up at Ichigo who returned to his deep thoughts. "Ichigo-san," he asked loudly to capture the teen's attention. When Ichigo looked questioningly at him, he continued, "You're going back to Seireitei, aren't you?"

He paused and thought. Was he actually going back to Seireitei. He did not know anyone there, and likewise, they do not know a single thing about him. Who are the current captains? What difference was there compared to the Seireitei he remembered clearly? He would not fit in, and explaining things would be a mighty pain in the ass. Running blindly in Rukongai, on the other hand, would not help his situation a single bit. At least in Seireitei, there was the Research lab to help him.

"Of course he's coming back," Lisa said, looking at Ichigo pointedly. "You're a Shinigami, are you not?" Her voice was calm but Ichigo knew better than that. She always reminded him of the calm before the storm of spears and iron-fist punches arrived. Rejecting to do so and he would be sliced up like sashimi. He would never win, definitely not in his state.

He coughed into his hand, more of a pretence than true need. "Uh yeah. Of course," he repeated, though with less enthusiasm.

"Good!" Mashiro said, giving a thumbs up. "Or else we'll have to kill you too, berry-tan. And I just washed this new scarf too.

"Uh..." 'She's definitely scary when she wants to be,' he thought. Once with that settled and out of the way, he turned the conversation back to Shuuhei. "Yeah, I'll be going back to Seireitei. Let us go back to the river first."

"I think not, Kurosaki Ichigo," Lisa interrupted, her eyes narrowed dangerously. Ichigo froze and inconspicuously gulped in hidden terror. "I have never seen you before. Your zanpaktou is huge. Kuna-fukutaichou would not think twice of it but I will. I have never seen a sword that big before and trust me when I say that I have a good memory."

'Oh shit' was the only phrase that swirled around in his brain. "Uh... Uh... Uh!" If he was sputtering before, he was truly taken aback now, having no idea on what to say. He was torn between lying, which would be infinitely harder for him to whip up a story now and later, when the truth gets exposed, or telling the truth, where certainly a room in some Soul Society mental institute would be reserved for him. Both were equally bad in their own aspects and he prayed fervently for this to simply be a bad dream. "I-I..."

"Oh leave him alone, Lisa-chan!" Mashiro cut into the growing tense atmosphere with Lisa raising her sword and Ichigo sweating profusely. "Berry-tan can answer the question when we get back. Look, you're scaring the kids too!"

True enough, both Shuuhei and Misahi cowered beneath their raising reiatsu, having neither experience or enough reiatsu to be able to handle the immense pressure weighing down on their tiny bodies.

Lisa scoffed but Ichigo was thankful that she lowered her Zanpaktou down. Knowing full well that he had not escaped from his inevitable doom, he sighed but turned to Shuuhei and said, "Sorry, Shuuhei, I can't follow you back but I'm sure I'd see you in Seireitei soon."

That was a subtle hint for the boy to join the Shinigami ranks. He did not know how the man had entered the Academy in the first place but one small nudge here and there wouldn't make much of a difference. At least that was what he thought. Or was there something more, like the butterfly effect? What happened if his small push would suddenly roll like a snowball and become disastrous? He gulped nervously, feeling suddenly stressed out by his choices.

"Your friends are waiting for you by the river. You better rush there before they burst a vessel waiting for you," Lisa said, "I passed them when I was rushing here."

Suddenly, the two snapped up, as if they had forgotten their other two best friends. "Thank God! I'm hungry," Shuuhei cried out and with one last farewell wave to the two Shinigami, rushed off with Misahi in the direction of the river.

Looking at the backs that grew smaller in size, Mashiro smiled nostalgically. "How innocent we used to be as children."

Ichigo stayed silent, not knowing how to respond to that other than a hum.

"We will head back to Seireitei now," Lisa said in a 'no-arguments' tone, sending a spark of fear to course through his heart, especially from the way she changed her grip on her Zanpaktou. "I'm sure there are some things we'd like to find out."

In spite of the fact that his mind was playing 'Oh shit' on repeat, he forced his lips to smile firmly. "Yeah." Unfortunately, his voice did not have a similar thought in mind and came out far weaker than he wanted to.

'Well, shit.'

**-This is a line break because the - and then enter thing doesn't work-**

Every time I press ctrl and i to change to italics, I keep changing the language to Chinese. It's annoying because I have no idea what I did wrong.

On another note, thank you for reading. Please review, favourite or continue to read anonymously because any of the above would be much appreciated.

And another thing, I would be going to Japan on the 25th and all the way to the 2nd. After that, I'd be starting work so this story's update might just be a _little bit _dysfunctional. Again, for the third time (if you've been counting), _**I'm sorry**_. Give me a shout out from wherever if you're going to Japan too!


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